Once Upon a Gnarled Tale
by GorgyPorgyGregoria
Summary: Vain, selfish, deviant and dangerously charming -a Prince is sent from his home seeking adventure and everlasting youth. Cool, sarcastic, calculating and mysterious -a young girl of the world in search for something from her past. Enlisting herself to his quest, the Prince, his jaded man servant and the girl go through countless fairy tales to find their Happily Ever After.


**A/N:** Well, this is new. This is something that popped up into my mind randomly and wouldn't let me sleep until I finished it. I absolutely love fairy tales -to no end really- and while every story I write up is Fairy Tale themed, very rarely do I actually get to write them. I sort of skimmed the idea of this off one of my favorite mangas: **_Ludwig_****_Kakumei_** -but I assure you, this is something else entirely different, it's my dark, twisted in humor take on every fairytale that I ever grew up with. Quite frankly, it's cracking me up.

For those of you who read_** Gâchette Noir**_I assure you, I haven't stopped writing it. I'm just working on two different projects... Because multi-tasking is the new "in" things these days. But please, review I'm hoping to see what you guys think!

**FULL** **Summary: **Vain, selfish, deviant and dangerously charming -a Prince is sent from his home seeking adventure and everlasting youth (though his father is convinced it's for a bride). Cool, sarcastic, calculating and mysterious -a young girl of the world in search for something from her past. Enlisting (More like bribing) herself to his quest; the Prince, his reluctant and jaded man-servant and the girl go through countless fairy tales to find their Happily Ever After.

* * *

Once upon a time, there lived a King and his very, very pregnant wife. It was the sort of pregnancy that one would rejoice about for years to come, the reason being that the King and his wife had tried every which way and that to produce an heir for the kingdom. So one day, a good fairy came, and with the wave of her fairy wand, she blessed the King and his wife, making it so they can conceive a healthy, beautiful child. When the leaves began to shed their color of green for their vibrant red, orange and yellow, and the trees began to shake the leaves from their limbs; his wife gave birth to a bouncing baby girl, with eyes as gold as the golden wheat, hair the color of the brimming rays of the rising sun, and lips as red as a blood rose –and thus, they named her Autumn Dawn.

Overjoyed, the King and his wife threw a celebration; inviting everyone from every corner of the world to come join them in their mirth. The best flagons and barrels of wine were ordered, the finest cooks in all the land came to make their greatest dishes. Merchants, Dukes, Barons, Kings and Princes from other realms present the new born Princess with gifts and riches. Even the gypsy folk, thieves and pirates seemed to celebrate the birth of the Princess, drinking themselves silly, and stealing from each rich person they ran into to give as tribute to the new Princess. All this in the honor of the Princess who could barely comprehend the going-ons of her surroundings.

Three days, the King and his people and guests celebrated. Three days there was peace among the lands and nothing but abundance of joy spreading throughout everyone. Three days, of gaiety throughout the world for one tiny little Princess –and on the third day, there was a grand feast in the honor of the good fairy who made the Princess' birth possible. The good fairy brought eleven of her good sisters with her and as gifts to the baby Princess, they bestowed blessings upon her. The first, giving the Princess the blessing of beauty, a beauty that surpassed even the loveliest flowers in the kingdom. The second bestowed upon the child; grace, elegance that was beyond the rival of a swan. The third of the good fairies sanctified the baby Princess good health, the fourth good fortune. The fifth exalted her with a voice more lovely than a nightingale, and the sixth bequeathed the Princess with intelligence. The seventh had blessed her with wisdom, and the eighth gifted her with a charming personality. Dance was imparted on the Princess by the ninth fairy, and the tenth had given her confidence. The eleventh good fairy bestowed upon the Princess, prudence, so she may never neglect and misuse the gifts that were blessed upon her. Finally the twelfth and final good fairy was ready to give her gift to the Princess; but before she had time to give it to her, a gust of cold winds of brewing squalls blew through the entire kingdom. Lightening erupted around the castle creating panic among the honored guests of the King and his wife.

Standing next to the cradle of the newly born Princess was the dark fairy; gnarled with jealousy and rage, the dark fairy damned the King and his wife for not inviting her to such a joyful event. With a sickening smile, the dark fairy decided to give the Princess a blessing of her own, as to show "good faith" for the outright insult she was given.

"She shall live a full and prosperous life. A beautiful and happy thing andthe eye of everyone's jealousy this girl will live to be. But when she turns sixteen, she shall prick her finger on a thorn of an enchanted rose and die. That, by good friends, is the blessing I shall impart on this God sent child of the King and his wife." With a laughter as terrifying as the screeching winds, she disappeared, and the storm with her.

Broken hearted, the kingdom wept for the Princess who would live a short life of just sixteen, all except the wife of the King –she had remembered that the final fairy had yet to grace the Princess with her blessing and begged her to reverse the curse of the dark fairy. The twelfth and final good fairy merely shook her head; saying that there was no way to turn the dark fairy's magic, but what she could do was bless the child with a hundred year sleep that would keep her frozen in time when she pricked her finger on the enchanted rose, "With a fervent hope that she would awake and continue to live her life as a fully as she is meant."

Seeing the shining ray of hope the fairy had given them –the King and his wife prepared for the day when the Princess should fall in an everlasting sleep…

* * *

He snapped the book shut, tossing it behind him as he rolled his eyes, "A hundred year sleep? Frozen in time? I highly doubt that there is a preservation spell good enough to keep a person looking young for a hundred years."

A man beside him saw that the young man had tossed the book, and went quickly to fetch it, "I'm sure, Your Highness that such a spell is possible, this is the result of a good fairy."

Lifting his well tamed eyebrow, the prince thought for a moment, "Well, I guess that is something we must seek out for ourselves. If this Princess truly is kept in a hundred year sleep without aging a day –then I must have the secret."

His man-servant just looked at the prince with a stern look in his eyes, "You mean you are going to seek out this Princess, wake her from her sleeping spell and take her home to present to your father as a potential wife."

The prince looked at his servant, waving his elegant right hand through the air as if to brush him off, "Yes. Wife, father –whatever."

The prince strode through the room, throwing open the door in a dramatic manner, "Come, Jonah! Adventure with the promise of everlasting youth awaits us!"

The prince walked out of the room without so much as a glance back over his perfectly shaped shoulders.

Sighing and shaking his head, Jonah followed his glittering employer. _"_'_Promise of everlasting youth,'_" he grumbled under his breath, "I should have became a baker…"


End file.
